A Lesson of Conquest
by Veronica The Mischievous
Summary: Before Iskandar was the "King of Conquerors" he was the young and troublesome prince of Macedon. Proud and short tempered he still had a lot to learn. His first conquest gave him an important lesson that would stick with him throughout eternity.


**Title:** A Lesson in Conquest  
><strong>Rating:<strong> G  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 2172  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> None  
><strong>Topic:<strong> None  
><strong>Type:<strong> Not sure  
><strong>Genre:<strong> General  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I don't own anything from Fate/Zero. Fate/Zero and their Characters belong to their respective creators.  
><strong>VTM:<strong> This was a bit of a challenge I put myself up to because I haven't been writing much lately. It's double the challenge since this is the first (and probably last) fic I've ever written for Fate/Zero, so it was an interesting experience.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The air was full of the tantalizing smells of food being prepared. The scent of spices, roasting meats, and cooking sauces escaped the royal kitchen; giving all near by the promise of a delicious meal that night. The cooks and servants labored as they put all they had into their craft. They were after all, they were serving royalty and their guests, there was much expected of them and pride on the line.

A pair of scarlet eyes surveyed the kitchen, taking note of where the servants and cooks were as they busied themselves. An impish smile flashed across the face of a young boy with sun kissed skin and bold red hair that matched his eyes. He was big for a child his age, in height mostly. He still had a long ways to go in building muscle before he'd look more like a man than a boy. Because of that the boy took to wearing a cape like his father. Though it was nothing as grand as his father's kingly mantle. Instead of the rich red, the boy's cape was more a red-brown and the fringe around the neck wasn't as furry or lush. All in all though, the cape still served its purpose. It provided the illusion that he was a little a bigger than he actually was.

When he finally felt it was safe, the boy snuck into the kitchen. Even though sneaking around was usually considered as something below a prince. Still, he wasn't going to risk being shooed away until he claimed his prize. A bowl of delicious looking apples that sat upon one of the tables. It was completely unwatched while the cooks busied themselves and had their backs turned.

The young prince crept along as silently as he could over to the table and gently picked the bowl up and cradled it in his arms. His red eyes widened when he noticed one of the cooks starting to turn around. All attempts at stealth were cast aside in favor of making a quick escape with nothing but the fluttering tail end of a cape to be seen.

The young prince sped down the hallways retreating from curses and shouts from the kitchen. He only slowed down when he felt that he was a safe distance away. He grinned as he looked down at the prize he held in his arms. With a free hand he picked up one of the apples, wanting to taste one for himself for all the trouble he went through for them. The rest of them would be used for a more important matter.

Just as he was about to take a bite out of the red juicy fruit a sound suddenly caught his ears. Not just any sound, it a voice.

"Iskandar, my little prince..."

The young prince froze upon hearing his name and looked at the source of the voice that was standing at the entrance of another hallway. The voice's owner was a tall, statuesque woman. There was a certain strength that could be seen, not being dainty, but having a solid form. Her hair was the same bold red as the young prince but their eyes were different. They were not red but they had a sternness to them, something that commanded respect when you met them.

"Iskandar..." she said again as she locked her eyes with him.

Iskandar picked up on the unspoken order in her voice and approached her. He then spoke up with a little uncertainty. "Yes, mother?"

She rested a hand on his shoulder and with the other she gently stroked the boy's cheek. An affectionate gesture that lost some of its softness as continued to speak. Her tone didn't quite share that affection. "Child, you are to be a king, why must you embarrass yourself so by acting like a petty thief?"

Iskandar broke eye contact with her and let his gaze drift to the side. "I have my reasons, mother. They're not for me..."

"I take it they're for that beast then?" Iskandar's mother said as a knowing smile spread across her face. "Surely there's no need to go through such trouble, my son. I could put a spell on the beast and bewitch it and then-"

"No! I don't want that, mother!" Iskandar suddenly spoke up. Realizing that he had just yelled at her, he became nervous. He did love his mother truly, but there was still something about her that secretly scared him. He hesitated a moment before meeting her eyes again. He did his best to mind his tone as he continued to speak. "This is something I have to do on my own."

To his surprise his mother was still smiling, seemly unfazed by his little outburst. She ran her fingers gently through her son's hair. "I see, very well then, my little future king. Do what you feel you must do then..."

"Thank you!" Iskandar said with a smile. He then turned away from her and hurried on his way again down the hall.

"So he turned down the help of your 'magic', Olympias?" Spoke a voice from the room behind her.

Iskandar's mother looked over her shoulder to a man who was relaxed in a chair. "It would seem so, Philip. Our son has a little of your stubbornness." In her mind though, she was more convinced that it was her determination that Iskandar really took after.

"Good! He's better for it then!" Philip smiled, his one eye gleamed with a hidden fondness. "Perhaps having that animal stay for a little while hasn't been a total waste of space and time."

"You act as though it was your idea, it was Iskandar himself that asked for it to stay." Olympias reminded the king. "You merely turned it into a wager."

"Yes, one that he is going to lose. He doesn't have much time left and he'll have to learn a harsh lesson."

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware, while he's not, yet." Olympias said with a disappointed sigh. "If he can't tame it then you'll force him to kill it. Really Philip, how cruel..."

"Don't speak to me about cruelty, woman. Don't pretend that you can't be vicious and vile." Philip shot back. "I am only doing what will help our son grow up." He pointed at her accusingly. "You just sit there and fill his head with fairytales!"

"Oh? Are you saying that the gods and our divine blood are fairytales?" Olympias smirked at the king and started to make her way out of the room. "Mind what you say Philip, you don't want to lose another eye, do you?" She laughed and her laughter echoed as she walked out into the hallway. She left King Philip remembering the loss and feeling a little uneasy.

Iskandar had made his way outside the palace, bowl of apples still in his arms. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he approached the stables. He could see his target in the distance, trotting round the gated enclosure with a haughty air about him. He was a large horse, built solid and strong and was dark as night. The stable hands stayed well out of the horse's way, knowing full well that he would not return to the stable until he felt like it.

For Iskandar it was love at first sight, though the feeling wasn't mutual for the horse.

_' To win, but not destroy. To conquer, but not humiliate. To truly conquer one must also conquer hearts as well.'_

It was something that one of his teachers had been trying to teach him. Iskandar had been thinking a lot about those words since he met the unruly horse. Temper and shouting would not work, it only made the horse even more angry. Force, as shown by his father and his stable hands, was also useless because he was more than willing to fight back.

Iskandar approached the fence of the enclosure, he waved and called out to the horse to get his attention. The horse noticed the prince and started to trot over to him. He had become used to Iskandar's persistent visits. Some of the stable hands whispered that the horse might have even liked them. But he stopped before he was too close, he raised his head up and gave a snort towards the young prince.

Iskandar blinked confusedly but soon remembered something from one of his earlier visits. He shook his head, smiled a little, and then reached up to the clasp that held his cape. He undid it and let his cape slide off his shoulders. "There, are you happy now? It's just me and only me, see?"

The horse waited a short moment before it nickered and slowly walked towards the waiting prince. He stopped at the fence and craned his head lower, he sniffed and seemed to notice the bowl of apples that the boy was holding. Iskandar reached up and gently pet the horse's large nose. He then took out a small knife and got to work cutting the apples into smaller pieces.

"You know, I was thinking of a name for you..." He spoke gently and fed the horse piece of apple. "I was thinking of 'Bucephalus', since you're strong and stubborn like an ox. Do you like it? Bucephalus?" He received a light nudge from the horse's nose and laughed before he gave him another piece of apple.

It had taken a lot of patience and work on his part to get to this point. It was clearly a battle of wills between the two. Not one that could be fought by force but one that required a much different tactic, earning and building trust. It wasn't something his lessons prepared him for. Or perhaps it was one he failed to pay attention to. Either way, he was certainly learning now and wondered if Aristotle would be laughing at him or might even be proud.

He spent some time with the now named Bucephalus, talking to him gently and watching the proud horse show off for him. It wasn't too long before another boy about Iskandar's age approached the stables. His hair was blonde and his eyes were sharp, his skin was a nice tan from all the play and practice he did with the prince outdoors. He paused when he caught sight of Iskandar and Bucephalus and smiled.

"Good day to you, Hephaestion." Greeted one of the stable hands. "Looking for the prince I take it? You came to the right place."

"I figured he'd be out here." Hephaestion answered as he continued to watch the two. "Iskandar is still trying to tame that horse, huh?"

"He's been at it for the past few days." A stable hand said as he crossed his arms and sighed. "I've told him that the horse's mind is obviously broken. I don't see why he even tries."

"Try denying Iskandar anything and he will look at it like a challenge." Hephaestion said with a smirk.

"If anything he's learned from the experience it's how to quell his temper a bit." Another stable hand spoke up as he carried some food for the other horses. "That damned horse and him are a match made in Hades."

"I will admit that the horse seems to have calmed down quite a bit though." The first stable hand added. "Maybe the prince is using some kind of divine charm."

Hephaestion rolled his eyes at hearing them say that. "Please don't start with that, you're starting to sound like his mother."

"Just because you get to learn from fancy teachers doesn't mean that our beliefs are any less real." The stable hand countered. "The prince's mother and father both come from bloodlines with heroes who were connected to the divine. So it is a possibility, can you really say that you were never taken off guard by that kid's eyes? Or felt that he has a strange kind of charisma?"

"That's just how Iskandar is." Hephaestion insisted. "His strange charm is his own, he's got no need of 'divine help'."

The stable hand stopped what he was doing and seemed ready to start arguing with the boy. But before he could something had caught both their attention.

"Hephaestion! Hephaestion, look!" It was Iskandar calling out to his friend.

Hephaestion and the stable workers looked towards Iskandar and a look of awe slowly donned upon their faces. In the enclosure Bucephalus galloped about with Iskandar seated upon his back.

"I'm riding him! He's letting me ride him!" the prince called out excitedly as they rode about.

"He...He really did it..." Hephaestion said with a surprised blink when he finally found his voice. He soon regained his senses and quickly shushed the stable hand before he could say anything about gods and the divine.

It was Iskandar's victory, plain and simple and it was a lesson well learned. The young prince of Macedon had taken his first step in becoming a true conquer.

-The End-

_**Author's Note:**_ This was a bit of a challenge I put myself up to because I haven't been writing much lately. It's double the challenge since this is the first (and probably last) fic I've ever written for Fate/Zero, so it was an interesting experience. I also apologize since this isn't my best work, I am a little rusty at the moment and this is my first time working with these characters. I did enjoy working on this piece though and I got to do some nice research in to boot. I tried my best on balancing out things that I read with the series' version of Alexander and took some creative liberties. That all being said though I'll think I'll stick with Tiger & Bunny fics for now unless I get bit by the inspiration bug again. Thank you very much for reading!


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